A chief congressional critic of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. declined Friday to join Republican calls for Holder’s resignation over the Operation Fast and Furious gun-trafficking sting, saying the operation’s failures were “not about any one person.’’

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) had told Holder in an Oct. 10 letter: “You own Fast and Furious. It is your responsibility.’’ Numerous other Republicans have urged Holder to resign over the Phoenix-based sting, in which agents allowed guns to flow illegally onto U.S. streets and into Mexico. Holder has made it clear that he is not stepping down.

On Friday, Issa said at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor that Fast and Furious “is not about Eric Holder . . . it’s about a failure that seems to be pervasive within Justice.’’ Issa, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that is investigating Fast and Furious, vowed to pursue what he called a “coverup” by the Justice Department, along with reforms at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Issa’s comments came as the Justice Department turned over more than 1,000 pages of documents Friday to congressional investigators about the gun-trafficking operation. Fast and Furious, which began in 2009, is also under investigation by Justice’s inspector general. It allowed small-time straw purchasers to pass firearms to middlemen, who trafficked the guns to Mexico.

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